(Note: I am NOT pregnant, nor are we trying yet. This post is stemming from just a random conversation with Johnny)
I don’t remember how it came up, but somehow a name that I suggested when I was pregnant with Roey popped into our conversation.
Cai.
I loved the name. I thought it was cool and I’d never heard of it before. (I didn’t check the meaning)
John nixed the name immediately when I brought it up, but now he says he likes it – go figure – but for a girl.
Somehow we started a baby name conversation, and Caia or Caya or Cahya came into play for our next child…if it’s a girl. (cross your fingers for me) I looked up Caya and couldn’t find anything on it’s meaning except when spelled Cahya which is a boy’s name for “Light” in Indonesian.
I started looking up other girl names that I liked and really loved Malia, but would never name my daughter that because it begins with Mal which means bad. There are a few names John and I liked before settling on Rohan but we had to nix them because of the meaning. We wanted something strong or that resonated well with us.
Rohan means “to ascend” in sanskrit and we loved the meaning and that the name was so old.
We want our next child’s name to have a meaning we love as well.
Does the meaning of a name matter to you?
TOTALLY UNRELATED:
As I was searching for the “hi my name is” image at the top of this post, I found this pic:
Which then reminded me of this song:
That I’m so loving these days…..and John even likes it too (he won’t admit it though)
Do you like this song? It’s so catchy, right?!
First of all…I love knowing what names mean, although I don’t think I would let their meaning determine if I was to choose it or not! Raegan means “small king” or “to come from a small king” or something almost royal, so we were just fine with that! On another note, my hubby won’t admit that he just LOVES the new t.swift cd but yet, as we’re driving along, he’s the one flipping through the songs….hahaha
noel @ highheeledmama recently posted..MC-Bath Hate
Why can’t men just admit that these songs are catchy!
Yes, it’s important to me. I love the name Caleb, but when I saw it meant dog I didn’t love it as much. I can’t have my son being a dog. LOL. We’ll be raising him to treat women right.
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Your son won’t be a dog! He’ll be LOYAL and LOVEABLE like one though
I like “Cai” I’ve only known it to be a girl’s name though. I think meanings are somewhat important. I wish my parents thought more about name meanings. My first name means “fertile summer” and my middle name means “cold, dark, and alone” Obviously, I wasn’t too thrilled about that second one. And my first one definitely took some getting used to considering I was named after my dad. So my entire life has been spent answering to “Baby Terri” or “Little Terri”
Terri recently posted..Make the Switch
This comment made me crack up!! What is your middle name?
Everybody laughs when they hear my “name story.” My middle name is Marice – similar to the male version “Maurice” So in addition to meaning “cold, dark, and alone” I would get teased for having two boy names! LOL Me and the fiance promised that we would never give our child a unisex name or name it after another relative after my whole ordeal!
Terri recently posted..Make the Switch
The name Cai is so pretty! I really like it…and the different spelling variations! We chose our name for our son before actually looking at the meaning. We actually first made sure it wasn’t a name that would induce teasing…then we looked at the initials and made sure it wasn’t innappropriate..then the meaning. His name is Avery (which we were aware was more commonly used for girls)…and it means “leader of the elves”… we both come from short families… so we were cool with that. lol.
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I only knew Avery as a girl name until I “e-met” your Avery. Then recently I started watching this show Nashville and there’s a guy called Avery on it and I immediately thought of your cute lil guy.
I love names with a great meaning! I love the name Sanaa because it means ‘work of art’ in Swahili. I hope you get your girl in the near future
I love that name, great meaning! All ‘open’ and airy names, ending with A really appeal to me for a girl.
Hi! My name is Mallory and I’ve been quietly following your blog for a few months. I currently don’t have any children but I often think about when my fiance begin to have children will we consider the meaning behind the names we like. I alway point out that my mother blindly LOVED my name “Mallory” from the 80s show family ties….I love my name too EXCEPT it means ‘ill-omened’. I often joke with my mother for naming me something so harsh but in her loving motherly voice she reminded me that ‘Jabez’ in the Bible means ‘sorrowful’ or ‘he causes pain’ but it turns out that he was found honorable unto God. She reminded me that where you come from is not necessarily who you will be. With all that said, I think I will be curious as to the name of our children but if we LOVE the name and it means “cooties” we will probably go with it and make something else up!
Lucky for me my middle name means beautiful…she hit the nail on the head with that one! 
I love that song!! But not the Taylor Swift version, rather the version from Walk Off The Earth. Anyway, I love learning the meaning of names. Cai/Kai is popular in Trinidad. I had a girl in my class named Cai. I don’t know it as a boy name but isn’t the trend now to use any name for whatever. That’s what we’re doing. I looked up the meaning of the names we are using prior to using them cause the meaning meant something to me. Kaya/Caya I’m surprised you don’t know is another word for Kush/Sticky Icky/Herb/The Green need I go on? You’re Jamaican you get my drift. You can than Bob for that with the same named album from 78 and the song on it paying homage to that stuff he affectionately called Kaya. With that said I’ve met a few people born 78 or soon after named Kaya and I always snicker and wonder if thats where their parents got it from. You know I love Rohan/Rowan too and not just because I was friends with the famous one
Name meanings are cool as long as your name doesn’t mean something crazy. Like the article on the parents who recently named their kid Hashtag! Yeah its original but its just weird to me.
LOL yes I know about Kaya. I should’ve mentioned that in the post! She’ll probably be smoking herself when she hits high school anyway. I can’t wait to find out your lil one’s name! I’m sure it’ll be something on trend and cool!
Actually don’t be disappointed cause its not. LOL! Its simple and we like the meaning. It became too much pressure to come up with unique and on trend. If it was on trend it wasn’t unique and vice versa. Boys names are so much easier. We just went with simple.
That is a catchy song. I really do like the name Cai. I do believe in meaning of names. My daughter’s name means–the brilliant one. My son’s name means–remembrance of God. I wish I had cool meaning to my name. My dad picked my name from a robot he read in a scifi novel.
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Hi Danielle,
My husband goes hey how about Zoe and looked up the meaning and it means Life in Greek. We couldn’t agree on any name so we didnt decide until we saw her and he goes hey how about Zoe and I loved it.
Now that she is 3 1/2 she is full of life so it was a great fit!
I do look at the meanings of names
Cai sounds so pretty for a little girl!
I’m not even in a baby state of mind yet, but for now, I don’t think the name matters. I haven’t even thought of names I would like if/when I do have a baby. Maybe when I’m getting ready to have a baby and I’m actually having the conversations, I’ll actually start to think of names that I could be satisfied with. But for now, I’m just hoping to work toward being a good example for my future kids through love and hard work.
That said, I cannot stop playing that Taylor Swift. Tay Tay (as I like to call her since she’s my friend in my head), really was on point with this song. Trouble, trouble, trouble!